The war between the Colandran Empire on one side, and the People's Star Kingdom and their allies the United Families may have been turning. The actions each side took in the next few months would be critical. Each side had their problems. The Empire had lost a fleet at Setosha, and scrambled to replace it. The PSK sensed a way out of the nightmare of war, but did they dare take it? And the Families - they needed to wait for the new generation of leadership such as Corey Andersen to mature. Tradition demanded it, but could they afford to wait? Then the Empire struck in an unexpected way, one designed to separate the PSK and the Families.